Lapey, 45, will run the $3.4 billion Third Avenue Value
Fund alone after co-managing it with Whitman since 2009, the
company said today in a statement. Whitman, 87, who was manager
of the fund since its opening in 1990, will remain as chairman
of the New York-based company’s fund complex and run a new
concentrated value fund for accredited investors, according to
the statement.

“I have the utmost confidence in Ian and the entire Third
Avenue team, and my family and I will remain significant
shareholders in the Third Avenue Value Fund,” Whitman said in
the statement.

The Value Fund has suffered poor performance and
withdrawals in recent years. While up 15 percent this year, the
fund has lost an average 3.7 percent annually in the past five
years, trailing 94 percent of rivals, according to data compiled
by Bloomberg. Assets have dropped from $10.4 billion in February
2007.

Whitman said in 2006 that Lapey would succeed him as the
fund’s manager when he retired. Whitman stepped down as co-chief
investment officer of Third Avenue Management in 2010.